"... An aircraft beacon and observation platform at the end of the winding road leading from NE. Fremont St. marks the summit of ROCKY BUTTE (612 alt.), one of three cinder cones of volcanic origin on the east side of the city. Its slopes are rough and broken. A grove of quaking aspen, not ordinarily native to the lower altitudes of western Oregon, grows on the northern side. From Rocky Butte there is a view of the city stretching to the hills beyond the Willamette and northwestward to the lowlands of the Columbia River, In the angle between the rivers are North Portland's large meat packing plants and stockyards. Beyond the Columbia are the peaks of St. Helens, Rainier, and Adams. Eastward the Columbia is lost between encroaching foothills of the Cascades, while slightly to the southeast rises Mount Hood ..."

In 1935 the crest of Rocky Butte was given to Multnomah County by Joseph A. and B.W. Hill. "Joseph Wood Hill Park" was created at the summit and dedicated to the public in memory of their father, Dr. J.W. Hill, an early Oregon educator and for many years head of the Bishop Scott Academy, which eventually became the Hill Military Academy. The park was improved during 1937-39 as a Work Project Authority (WPA) project, with stone walls, roadways, and a wide parking platform. The rock used for abutments and walls came from the Rocky Butte Quarry. In 1938 a road down the other side of the butte was built, which, because of the steep grade, included a turn within the tunnel. This proved so successful that many other tunnels throughout the state were patterned after it.

In 1988 the City of Portland acquired 16.82 acres on top of the butte and designated it as the "Rocky Butte Natural Area". Included in this is the 2.38 acre "Joseph Wood Hill Park".

In 1991 Rocky Butte Road and parts of NE Fremont Street and 92nd Avenue were added to the National Register of Historic Places as the "Rocky Butte Scenic Drive Historic District" (District #91001550), encompassing 215 acres, 10 structures, and 3 objects.

"... The high Hills which run in a N W. & S E. derection form both banks of the river the Shore boald and rockey, the hills rise gradually & are Covered with a thick groth of pine &c. The valley which is from above the mouth of Quick Sand River to this place may be computed at 60 miles wide on a Derect line, & extends a great Distanc to the right & left rich thickly Covered with tall timber, with a fiew Small Praries bordering on the river and on the Islands; Some fiew Standing Ponds & Several Small Streams of running water on either Side of the river; This is certainly a fertill and a handsom valley, at this time Crouded with Indians. The day proved Cloudy with rain the greater part of it, we are all wet cold and disagreeable- I saw but little appearance of frost in this valley which we call <Wap-pa-too Columbia> from the root or plants growing Spontaniously in this valley only ..." [Clark, November 5, 1805]